Stray
by Soozen
Summary: When Shigure betrayed Akito. Spoilers inside, I'm guessing up to chapter 110, just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

It was one of the few times Ren was feeling bold enough to leave her room. Not that she felt as though she had to stay there, though Akito had ordered it. She didn't care what that brat said, and she rarely ever followed her orders. No, it was just easier to stay in her room to avoid the fuss the maids would make upon seeing her outside her room.

But, today was different. Today, she felt stronger. After all, she did have something on Akito, something to taunt her with, to hopefully break her with. The stupid girl was obviously head over heals for the dog of the zodiac, Shigure. The maids had tried to keep it quiet, their actions together, how often the dog would sneak into Akito's room at night, but she knew. She knew how Akito felt for him, and knew how much this new information would hurt her.

For last night, instead of sneaking into Akito's room, Shigure had come to Ren's room, and it had not been by accident.

She smiled, absentmindedly. It had been so long since she'd been with a man, for she usually couldn't imagine being with anyone other than Akira. But, when Shigure had come to her, she couldn't resist. Not when it could hurt Akito so very much.

Ren stepped outside, onto the porch, the one that overlooked the garden. It was still morning, but the sun was shining brightly all ready. Today was truly a wonderful day.

"What are you doing here?"

Again, Ren smiled. She knew the voice so very well; every mother would recognize the voice of their child. Oh, she could not wait to tell her….

Slowly, she turned around to face Akito. She was glaring at her, dressed in a man's kimono, as usual. Oh, that had been a stroke of brilliance, Ren thought, to insist upon Akito being brought up as a man. She would never fully fit in; she could never be herself entirely.

"You are not allowed here- go back to your room!"

Akito was all ready close to losing control of her emotions, it was easy to see from how wide her eyes were, her clenched fists.

"You seem to be missing your precious doggy," Ren said, keeping a cold smile on her lips. Oh, this was too good….

"Leave!"

Oh, what a brat. She was too used to getting everything her way. But, she could see that her words had effected Akito, however slightly.

"He'll leave you, like they all will," Ren hissed. "None of them will stay-"

"Be quiet!" Akito screamed; Ren was a little surprised. Usually it took longer for her to go into hysterics. "You know nothing of us- they love me!"

"Stupid bitch; they're all ready going, they're straying." Oh, she could barely contain herself. It was all she could do to keep herself from grinning like a maniac. "If they love you so much, they why do they go to others at night?"

Akito seemed to be momentarily at a lost for words. Her face was so red, her lips pursed tightly. "You're lying," she hissed through gritted teeth.

"Where was your mutt last night? Did he spend it with you?" Oh, the expression on her face at the mention of Shigure was priceless; she seemed almost scared. She paused a moment, hearing footsteps coming their way. If she was going to tell the brat what had happened, she would have to do it fast, before she was taken back to her room. "I'll tell you where he was…. Instead of crawling to you, Shigure came to me."

For half a moment, Akito had remained very still, her entire body rigid. And then, she exploded, flying at Ren, screaming at her. "You're lying! You're lying!"

She knocked her to the ground, attacking her in any way possible. Ren was doing all she could to fend her off, but Akito was in such a frenzy, it seemed nothing could keep her away.

"Akito!" she heard someone yell, and then she was being pulled back.

"Let go of me!" Akito screamed. Ren looked up and saw that it was Kureno who had found them, and was trying to contain Akito. "I'll kill you; you're lying! You're lying!"

"Am I?" Ren said, wiping blood from her mouth as she stood up. Kureno was still dragging Akito away, obviously trying to get her into another room. He gave Ren a look that clearly told her to go back to her own room. She merely smirked in return. "Go find that ever faithful dog of yours and ask him. He has strayed, and everyone else will do the same! You are nothing to them, nothing!"

---

Shigure stretched lazily, yawning ever so slightly. It was only an hour or so until noon, but he'd just woken up. It'd been a late night, which was part of the reason why he'd slept so late.

He headed to the front door; he was planning on visiting Hatori or Aaya for a little bit, just to avoid seeing Akito. Usually, he looked forward to a visit from Akito, but not today…. Well, if he was avoiding her, he'd better go to Aaya's; it was no secret that she hated him.

When he slid the door open, Shigure was very shocked to find Akito standing in front of him; it appeared to be as though she was about to open the door. He did a double take; she did not look particularly happy. In fact, she seemed to be very, very angry. Could she have found out all ready? No, it was too soon….

"Akito," he said as calmly as he could. "What're yo-"

She struck him hard across the cheek. Shigure had been caught off guard, hadn't been able to prepare for this sudden blow, and so, it had hurt more than was expected. He touched his cheek and winced; there'd be a bruise there by morning.

"You're disgusting," Akito hissed through her clenched teeth.

Did she know? How could she possibly know?

"Akito, what happened-"

She hit him again. "Don't act like a fool," she snapped. "I know what you did, you- you filthy-"

_She did know_. But how?

Akito kept on sputtering; oh, he'd never seen her this angry. This was not good. True, he'd meant to make her mad, but not to this extent.

"Akito," Shigure said, hoping to find a way to calm her down. He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, but she jerked back away from him.

"Don't you dare touch me!" She shrieked. "Don't you_ ever_ touch me again! You-you slept with-with _her_! You're disgusting!" She slapped him again. "You filthy dog!"

She paused, taking a breath. And when she spoke again, she spoke slowly, and clearly. "I want you gone. You are never to come back to the Sohma house again."

---

I hope you enjoyed this. There's one more chapter in store, possibly.

Please leave constructive criticisms.


	2. Chapter 2

"You really are an idiot," Hatori said.

He'd come over to Shigure's house only an hour ago, when he'd heard the news that Shigure had been banished from the Sohma estate. It was a rumor, Hatori had been sure, just a rumor; surely Akito was just angry with Shigure, and as the news had been passed from maid to maid, it had grown into this. But, he was surprised to find that Shigure was packing all his things, and his shock only grew when Shigure told him why he was being banished.

"An idiot? I wouldn't say that," Shigure said, closing up a box of all his journals; he had so many, most of them years and years old. He was always writing in them. "'A fool in love' sounds so much more appropriate."

Hatori sighed. "I highly doubt that sleeping with someone besides the person you supposedly care for counts as loving them."

"Ah, Hatori; you only think that because you haven't fallen in love yet," Shigure said in a playful sort of way, wagging his finger at him. "Those in love do quite unusual things, things that cannot be explained. And now, I am being punished for merely following my heart," he ended dramatically.

"You've brought this on yourself, you know."

"I know," his cousin replied, much more seriously that Hatori expected him to. "But, so did she," he added quietly. Shigure moved on to packing his clothes, with merely consisted on him barely folding his shirts and pants before tossing them into an open suitcase.

"How did she do that?"

Shigure looked as though he was going to respond, but stopped when a maid came in to take out the packed boxes. The room remained quiet as the maid gathered a suitcase and a box of journals under one arm. Hatori immediately knew what Shigure was going to say had to be left between them. No one spoke about secret matters in front of the help; that was just asking for rumors to be spread.

They both watched the maid leave. After a moment's pause, obviously to make sure that the maid was safely out of hearing distance, Shigure replied, "She slept with Kureno."

And then, Hatori understood. It was no secret that Shigure was bothered by Kureno's constant presence with Akito, was always jealous of how much time Kureno spent with her. Hatori remembered hearing Akito scream at him after he'd made some sort of remark about how much time she spent with Kureno; she'd yelled about how he didn't trust her, how he didn't understand anything about her being a god. She and Shigure fought fairly often, for Shigure was very good at getting underneath her skin. She always forgave him though.

Except for this time. Now, it was quite clear that this was possibly the end of their relationship.

But, why would Akito sleep with Kureno? That puzzled Hatori. He knew how much she cared about Shigure, no matter how much she tried to hide it. It just didn't make sense that she would do that.

"…Are you sure Akito did that?" Hatori asked quietly.

"I saw them, Hatori," Shigure said rather calmly, though Hatori could sense the contempt in his voice. "I'm very sure."

Hatori hesitated. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. She…she has paid for what she did." Hatori had never seen his cousin speak so seriously. "She will be hurting for a long, long time. She deserves to."

It was true, Hatori could see, that Akito would not easily get over this. She despised her mother, and hated it whenever anyone associated with her. If an outsider ever slept with her mother, she'd be furious. If any of the jyuunishi slept with her, she'd be upset, and shun them for life. But, for the person she cared most about to sleep with her mother….it made Hatori wonder if she would ever get passed this.

And it was in that instance that Hatori learned never to cross Shigure. As harmless as he seemed, Shigure knew exactly what he had to do to completely and utterly destroy someone.

Akito had crossed Shigure, and had reaped the consequences. For a split second, Hatori stopped pitying his cousin, and his only thoughts were 'poor Akito….'

* * *

Kureno hovered around Akito like he usually did; or at least, he attempted to. She had been completely distraught when he'd pried her off of Ren; he doubted he'd ever seen her so upset. Once Ren was safely locked inside her room again, Kureno had allowed Akito out of his site, though he didn't stay far. She hadn't wanted him around, but he was worried about her; what could have hurt her so badly?

He'd been around to hear her banish Shigure, and was a bit saddened. He liked Shigure, though it appeared to be that Shigure wasn't as fond of him. It wasn't as though he was allowed to see Shigure much anyway, but when he did, he enjoyed his company.

Kureno followed Akito around as she paced the halls and gardens of the estate. She was so visibly upset; walking around angrily, restlessly, letting out small screams of frustration. Kureno didn't want to leaver her alone, in case she set out to attack Ren again.

Eventually, she went into her quarters for a bath; she allowed Kureno to wait in her room while she bathed. And so, Kureno sat, close to the bathroom door, waiting for her to come out, hoping to talk to her, to figure out what was wrong. Something had happened concerning Ren and Shigure, but he couldn't figure out what would make her so upset.

Kureno didn't move from where he sat until he heard her crying inside the bathroom. He honestly hated hearing her cry; though the connection between God and the jyuunishi that he once had was gone, he still couldn't handle her upset. Perhaps it was because, for over a decade, he'd had that connection, and it had made a permanent impression upon him.

He slowly opened the door to the bathroom, in case she didn't want him seeing her in the bath, though he doubted she'd have a problem with it. It wasn't as though he hadn't seen her naked before.

She was hugging her knees tightly to her chest, sobbing. Kureno was a bit shocked at this; usually, her tears were a ploy to get attention. But now, she had hidden herself away to cry, where (almost) no one would see her.

"Akito, what's wrong?" He knelt by the bath, watching her carefully.

She looked up at him, her eyes red, and attempted to stop crying. "Why-why did you come in?"

"I heard you crying," Kureno said simply.

"So?"

"I don't like it when you cry." He wiped a tear off her cheek. "What happened today, Akito?"

She didn't answer right away, but watched his face, studying him. Kureno held her gaze. He knew better than to look away from her as she did this; she'd be likely to think he had an alternative motive, which surely wouldn't make her feel better.

Tears began to swell up in her eyes again, and Kureno panicked for a moment; had he, somehow, upset her? But then, she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, and he heard her whisper between sobs, "My only faithful one left…. Don't ever leave me, Kureno."

* * *

Finally finished this. Hurray! Akito is a selfish bitch, and Shigure is a conniving bastard, hurray!

Please leave constructive criticisms.


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